5/13: Initial Thoughts

Members of different age, race, gender, etc. experience regions in vastly different ways. I would say that regions shape the way members of the region live and feel about the region. Influences come from many different areas and a handful of small influences can shape a region's style and being to spiral and reflect that affect. Members of the region, will have their lives shaped by their surroundings, the other people in the region, and the opportunities placed in their environment. For example, there are many regions of the United States that are recognized and characterized by their reputation for having a majority of people being of a certain race, gender, age, economic status, etc. Areas like Naples, Florida and many places in Arizona are retirement hot spots for white, wealthy, seniors to live in during retirement. Realizing this then, the regulation, business attractions, and environments reflect the people that live in the region. Houses and living accommodations are more luxurious since these wealthy citizens want and can afford them. Luxury car dealers start popping up, and high-end retailers are seen all over the city.

Although the physical characteristics of a region are static to begin with when certain people arrive in them. The surroundings start to conform to the demographics of the people that live within them. Without getting into too much detail, there are obvious features of neighborhoods, communities, and regions that strongly reflect and correlate with the people in them. Like people are generally attracted to each other, so these regions attract more and more people of similar demographics. Regulation then starts to reflect regional demographics, whether good or bad in some cases. These occurrences can be great for sustainable design in some cases, and terrible in others depending on the demographics and what the people want.

Design that isn't directed towards certain demographics will be necessary to avoid the regional containment. Retail districts that invite not only people to them, but a diverse group of people by offering commerce options representative of all types of people in this melting pot of a nation. Living space that is reflective of not only cultural differences, but income spans as well will invite a range of demographic differences. There are many things we can do, but right now there is a lot of isolation in our regions separating different demographics from each other, and right now our regulation and design actually promotes this. These decisions are some that will need to change in the future in order to create diverse regions.